FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER - PAGE 2

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - American country music singer George Jones has died at age 81, his spokesman said on Friday. Jones, whose career spanned six decades, died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. He had been hospitalized since April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure, spokesman Kirt Webster said. (Editing by Vicki Allen)

A medical test that detects bone-destroying osteoporosis in its early stages has been developed by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn. Using a device called an absorptiometry machine, physicians led by Dr. Martin Sandler are determining whether patients are losing bone mass at an abnormal rate. If the disease is occurring, physicians can slow its impact with medication and exercise. Approximately 20 million American men and women, most of them elderly, are afflicted with osteoporosis.

Helen Carter, of the singing Carter family, which added to the rich heritage of country music with their songs from Appalachia, died Tuesday, hospital officials in Nashville said Wednesday. She was 70. The eldest of the Carter daughters, she died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center after a lengthy illness. She sang with sisters June (the wife of country star Johnny Cash), Anita and their mother, Maybelle Carter. Helen was born in 1927 in Maces Springs, Va. In 1939, just a month after "The Original Carter Family" made its first recordings featuring Maybelle and her cousin, Helen and her sisters joined the group.

A university student died Wednesday night of injuries she suffered early Sunday in an intentionally set fire at a dormitory. Katie Autry, a freshman from Pellville, died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Western Kentucky University said in a statement. The 18-year-old died as about 150 students gathered at the bell tower on campus to pray for her, the Daily News of Bowling Green reported on its Web site. Autry suffered third-degree burns, as well as abrasions and puncture wounds on her neck and face.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb 10 (Reuters) - A package exploded on Monday at a residence in central Tennessee, killing one person and injuring another, emergency officials said. The package was delivered to a home in Lebanon, about 40 miles (64 km) east of Nashville, said Jeremy Heidt, a spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. "When the package was opened, it exploded, and there's at least one fatality involved," he said. One person was injured and airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

Vice President Al Gore's mother, recovering from a stroke, sat up in a wheelchair to greet her son and other family members Thursday, doctors in Nashville said. Pauline Gore "is out of her bed and in a wheel chair. . . . I am overjoyed that this is such a good result," Dr. Drew Gaffney told reporters. Mrs. Gore, 82, suffered what doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center called a "very small" stroke after being admitted Wednesday complaining of chest pains. She is listed in satisfactory condition, doctors said.

Police searched Wednesday for a newborn whose mother said he was snatched from her home by a woman posing as an immigration agent who threatened to arrest her, then attacked her with a knife. The mother, Maria Gurrolla, told reporters she had never seen the woman before she showed up at her door Tuesday evening. She said she struggled with the woman, who got a knife from her kitchen and stabbed her several times. "I need my baby," she said through an interpreter outside Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she was recovering from her wounds Wednesday.

LPGA Tour golfer Cathy Gerring was burned Saturday afternoon when a flame from an alcohol burner shot across a buffet table as she waited in line, officials of the Sara Lee Classic said. Gerring, who had just finished second-round play, was taken by helicopter to the burn unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, tournament director Clyde Russell Jr. said. Vanderbilt spokeswoman Barb Cramer said Gerring was in stable condition in the burns intensive care unit. She suffered first- and second-degree burns on her face and hands, Cramer said.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - One person has died and three others were injured on Wednesday after an explosion at an ammunition plant in central Tennessee that touched off small brush fires nearby, authorities said. The explosion happened Wednesday afternoon at the Rio Ammunition plant in McEwen, Tennessee, about 56 miles west of Nashville, said Odell Poyner, Humphreys County director of emergency management. All four people were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville with blast injuries, two by helicopter, hospital spokesman Craig Boerner said.

Tony Stewart won the MBNA.com 400 on Sunday, capturing both races this season at one of NASCAR'S toughest tracks. Stewart became the first to double since Jeff Gordon won twice in 1996 at Dover (Del.) Downs International Speedway. It was the seventh sweep since the track opened in 1969. This victory was especially impressive because Stewart had problems getting up to speed early in the weekend and started 27th in a field of 43. In June, when he won the MBNA Platinum 400, he started 16th.